The Possibility of Shamanism
A Genealogy of Anthropological Appropriations
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2156306 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Dan Whisker (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2013 |
| Volume | 24 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 344-362 |
| Publication date | 2013-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | History and Anthropology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0275-7206 • E-ISSN: 1477-2612 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/02757206.2013.761982 |
| OpenAlex | W2088223885 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 38 |
This piece adopts a genealogical approach to the emergence of "neo-Shamanism" as a "spiritual" practice. It argues that the work of Freud and Durkheim collapsed the dichotomy between "primitive" and "civilized" which characterized nineteenth-century evolutionist anthropology. Neither Freud nor Durkheim embraced the consequences of this collapse, and while Bataille attempted to do so, his application of "Shamanism" to modern self-governance was constrained by the terms of the Freudian/Durkheimian framework. Jung did embrace this collapse, positing a universal equivalence between religious forms and psychological processes, and this epistemic shift permitted his interlocutors, Levi-Strauss and Eliade, to inaugurate the discursive frameworks which made "neo-Shamanism" thinkable as an ethical practice for contemporary Westerners. Analyses which suggest that "neo-Shamanisms" are rediscoveries of a primal "spirituality" write from within this framework, neglecting the contingency of historical change, the creativity of anthropological appropriations and the politics of knowledge
Contingency · Freudian slip · Shamanism · Jungian Analytical Psychology · Philosophy, Ethics, and Existentialism · Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices
Yoga
Patterns in comparative religion.
Religions, values, and peak-experiences
The invention of primitive society
The Beauty of the Primitive
The Spirituality Revolution
Was Hinduism Invented?
The Triumph of the Moon
Structural anthropology
Shamanism, Colonialism, and the Wild Man
On Durkheim's Elementary Forms of Religious Life
Researches into the early history of mankind and the development of civilization
Genealogies of Religion
Gender Trouble
Shamans/Neo-Shamans
Orientalism and Religion
Eliade and Hultkrantz
Religion and Culture
William James and The Varieties of Religious Experience
Shamanism from Ecuador to Chicago
Finding the Way
The Forge and the Crucible
Shamans/Neo-Shamans
The Elementary Forms of Religious Life
Shamanism, Colonialism, and the Wild Man
The Savage Mind
Researches Into the Early History of Mankind and the Development of Civilisation
Four Theories of Myth in Twentieth-Century History
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |